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"A Test of Bad Health," The New York Times
October 19, 2007
In this op-ed, Peter Pitts, SVP of Global Health Affairs for MS&L, explains that if Congress overrides President Bush’s veto of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, then a provision to the House bill allocating $300 million to create a Center for Comparative Effectiveness could be revived. The Center would test if new pricey drugs would work better than older and less expensive ones, and Medicare would use the findings to decide which drugs to cover. "It will most likely result in Medicare covering fewer breakthrough medicines, which would, in turn, force doctors to prescribe only the drugs that Medicare will pay for - not the ones that are best for the patient," says Pitts.